if you don't leave. i. have more than thirty thousand troops from afghanistan is one of the main pledges in barack obama's state of the union address. the foreign policy areas the president wants to talk about. politics is broken as israeli media shroud of secrecy over the death of an alleged secret agent in custody despite the government trying to keep it quiet. i mean employed french commits suicide. on firing from the job center desperately highlighting the economic problems gripping the.

news and comment twenty four hours a day this is. barack obama use the first state of the union address of his second term to try to appease the lawmakers in taxpayers making fresh promises to boost the economy and slash that when foreign policy the us president also announced that thirty four thousand troops will leave afghanistan my next fabric and he looks at what he did and didn't say. after over a decade of war troops are coming home in twenty fourteen as obama put it obama points out that there are two missions now one to prepare handing afghan forces take over so that the country does not slip into chaos again the key word here again it almost seems as if it's now a stable place just today reports of ten civilians killed by

a nato strike targeting taliban insurgents now obama spent most of his speech talking about the economy and taxes he failed to mention that so far the u.s. has invested over one hundred billion dollars in reconstruction of afghanistan and that this year alone it's expected another thirty billion dollars could be spent in eight this as the afghan state is rated one of the most corrupt in the world despite red flags from a watchdog monitory bad aid they say there's no way of ensuring all this money is going to the right place or whose hands the cash is falling into and that it's too dangerous in many places in afghanistan to safely observe what's happening well former and. some have become very rich including western officials well most afghans have been left with nothing many countries thrive on this war they make money there in their un people others who are lined up and making fat salaries and

while the life of afghan ordinary afghans have not changed of course we have had some things like media. communication and this and that but. in relation to what was available and what could have been done it's drop in the bucket now obama also spoke of defending democracy across the globe most notably the arab spring which is previously been held by his administration a great success especially libya egypt and tunisia those countries of course now still drowning in chaos and violence two years on well. bomber has changed his tune a bit now saying well it's going to be messy those transitions also his tone on syria a bit distant considering a year ago the u.s. was insisting president off to moscow a lot of speculation about intervention was going on now the president saying they will continue to put pressure on the syrian leader another pledge from obama to

continue to push for legal and durable policy on counterterrorism no mention here of guantanamo drones or wiretapping and obama mentioned internet freedoms well sort of he flaunted signing an executive order on cyber defense but the order is really seen as a response to congress's refusal to pass the cyber intelligence sharing and protection act or says last year in light of serious privacy concerns in other words a loophole is now available for sis to effectively be put into action the laws carry the u.k. pirate party leader says that the president signed the executive order on cyber security in order to prevent it from being stopped by the senate. we find the security it's about securing systems and technology not securing access to the private information of citizens all of this legislation is about pushing towards

actually information sharing and that it's the concern about the it's really the concern that civil liberties groups have basically ordinary ordinary policing it's actually a bit ludicrous to address this arc and it's a language. that and we are essentially by signing an executive order this is bypassing congress but also move bypassing public debate on this important issue we've seen time and time again legislation brought in in the name of national security and to be to be used more lightly and actually harass an ordinary citizen not just for us to confront all of us around the world. still to come a program a gamble for africa the u.n. human rights chief says the situation in mali is swiftly deteriorating following a french intervention shorter we examine the violence that spraying the west african nation. of ale of silence over the death

of a top secret prisoner has been lifted by the israeli media which had been gagged by a court order and surface to following a reporting australian press but a man linked to the israeli secret service and hand himself in prison after months of being held in secret what has the details there. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu summoned the editors of all the major israeli news outlets to an emergency meeting and in that meeting he asked them not to publish the story saying and i'm quoting that it would be embarrassing to a certain government agency not at first the editors did listen and all references to the original australian report were removed from israeli news websites but later it was for back not only to the web sites but also to all the radio and t.v. stations there and certainly sincerely also this morning it has been the headline news everyone though is referencing it as a report from australia not what we understand is that israeli parliament aaron

stood off the justice minister to confirm whether or not this report was true they also demanded to know if there were other prisoners who were being held in secret in israeli jails the justice minister's comments were and i'm quoting that there is no doubt that if this information is accurate this is something that needs to be checked state since it gave news operates in israel the green light to report on this parliamentary debate but nothing else but of course we're witnessing now that the reporting has gone much further than just this debate such a gag order it is important to say it is highly unusual in israel ways state military sense is normally an hour of the local media to quote silence sources on controversial topics such as the alleged israeli strike in syria last month what we also understand is that various human rights groups such as human rights watch as well as the israeli civil rights movement have been aware of this particular incident for quite some time now the australian media is reporting that this man

came to live in israel when he was a youngster he made what is called idea and he was recruiting on the stand by the messiah these raided secret service something went wrong and we've been given no reason for him being imprisoned but they respect the nation that it would have had to be connected somehow with espionage and sensitive state secrets the. former foreign minister avigdor lieberman has said that left wing parliamentarians have damaged israeli security by bringing this issue to the fore in the first place. closely reporting while the jobless man has died after setting himself on fire in front of an employment center in the first city of nine hundred forty three year old self-immolating after discovering he was ineligible for unemployment benefits the last time this happened in france was in august when a man died after burning himself in paris on to easter saucily has the story. it said it reports that he had actually set a letter to some journalists saying that he was going to do this this week so the

police had said that they had set of surveillance outside that employment agency but they didn't manage to see him he was already on fire they said he had entered through a side street and therefore this tragedy had happened now the man did this after finding out that he is no longer eligible for those unemployment benefits and this is not the first time it has happened in france in august we know that a fifty year old jobless man had done the same and this is a worrying sign for france for a country that has seen its unemployment rising for the past twenty months and this after a president had been elected on a campaign of jobs and growth so we haven't seen any improvements on this matter a lot has declared twenty thirteen as a battle for jobs he said that by the end of the year there would be he would be creating jobs for the french people however statistics show that by midyear the number is set to rise and let's not forget that more than three million french people this number does not include people who have quit the unemployment program because they simply have exhausted all their benefits similar to the case of the

man who had just burned himself and also those young people who had never registered or those who were in part time jobs if we look at the trend we've seen a lot of suicides and attempted suicides in countries like greece one of the hardest hit euro zone countries because of this eurozone crisis there's a general feeling of a still be in the country a lot of people going out in protest we've also heard of stories of suicides in italy another hard hit country so if we're looking at the trend that's happening in europe we hope it does not continue but we could see a lot more of expressions of dissatisfaction. and while jobless europeans are finding it increasingly hard to make ends meet the wealthy financial woes of a different kind explain tax rates super rich e.u. citizens to flee to other countries that's just ahead. and while europe's tax is already paying the wealthy many britons can't afford to go on holiday wages listening to the dictions for the nation's economy. to mistake that story and more

off the break. with. science technology innovation all the moves developments from around russia we've got the future covered. politics we can we know if you're going to. choose to use the consensus you can. choose to get to. choose the stories that impact your life choose the access to.

these are the images. from the streets of canada. operation. welcome back you're watching on t.v. there's been a dramatic growth in the gap between rich and poor in the u.k. a stark figure is revealed by a british think tank also warned that families. fifteen years of squeezing comes to living standards recover to pre-crisis levels. looks into what's spent on the numbers. imagine living on the brink financially i need to be told that it's going to get was that's the reality facing some ten million brits living on middle

incomes economists at the think tank the resolution foundation have issued a landmark report with a stop the warning to the government they've got to tackle low wages or face economic stagnation for generations to come the report claims that for too many households their money no longer stretches to the bare essentials because of falling wages and rising inflation and buying a house is becoming a fantasy for too many britons already millions of citizens in the u.k. struggle to pay their monthly bills have no savings in the bank and can no longer afford a family holiday so what we're seeing at the moment is the squeeze on living standards which is affecting households throughout the entire income distribution and that's mainly a result of the recession and austerity policies but actually for very sizable group around about ten million adult middle income households and that's actually

started sometime before failing to do anything in this day and to give it time households have no increase in that in their living standards and iranians first of all it's a social problem because it's a very large group to be in that situation but also it's an economic problem because because this group of consumers so they are one of the drivers of economic growth their report found that on top of the recession there are systemic problems with the way that the british economy is run making life even harder for britain's low to middle if things stay the same the average household by twenty twenty will have less money to spend than it did five years ago person is now squeezed that almost seven out of ten brits say that they have to cut back on spending just in order to get by but the governor of the bank of england saying that economic recovery could be in sight it looks like that for those at the bottom of the british. to me that's no guarantee that life is going to get any easier.

well we have more stories and videos for you at r.t. dot com here's a quick look at what else we have lined up for you today on after taking a battering from mother nature residents in parts of new york which were hardest hit by hurricane sandy are in for an unfortunate surprise from the city's. also on line iraqi capital baghdad takes its first steps on the catwalk in ten years the fashion show is seen as a symbolic break from the years of. war and that on our website. is.

taken to the streets to protest against. by far right extremists and marks the anniversary of the allied bombing of the city in eastern germany which can see from the european network against racism so cross this is one of the reasons is gaining strength across europe. extremely worrying phenomenon because it is the mission as we see the not only in germany but you know other european countries as well there is an increasing popularity of these rights movements and even then that's what's lacking in greece for instance obviously the economic crisis is exacerbating tensions and due to loss of jobs exception but at the same time i mean it's been the. rivers have been rising since before the economic crisis so it's really difficult to pinpoint one cause but what's really important is that

governments and politicians really take a clear starts against the ideas promoted by most and really promote a message that unites instead of separate people. tax hikes are still the default plan for many nations trying to get out of debt while the super rich can flee to places that work takes such a hefty slice of their cash small businesses left behind say livelihoods are at risk as r.t.s. pete i found out. he's a leading man of stage and screen however european heads of state will be hoping share our debt by do doesn't become the leader of a tax exodus by the super rich fund to our lands decision to push through a seventy five percent top rate of tax on those earning over one million euros saw the actor up sticks and head to russia europe has some of the highest rates of taxation in the world with many giving the lion share of the things to the state of

vermont feel the need can be a balancing act of course you want to run a successful business but if you make over a certain amount you find yourself paying out huge quantities of tax over fifty percent but there are warnings for europe that when compared to low tax countries like russia they could lose their competitive edge if their country was low taxes and going to the high taxes capital flow well to country with low taxes in the same is true for people with talent there's always going to be people that think the taxes are too high but a growing number actually starting to think that it's becoming detrimental to the development of business but he can't owns a haulage company in munich currently he employs around ninety people transporting everything from the small to the big and bulky all over mainland europe he says that lowering the current rate of tax would not just make big changes to his

business but also to the lives of his staff that's where not only can his was off him and current it would be super first i could pay higher salaries this is a very important issue right now due to the rise in the cost of living also i can invest more into the company and grow the business even employ more people everyone benefits something that is impossible under the current tax system and that those in power argue that the problem in european countries right now is that taxpayers want to have the best of both were. big money especially one of the phenomenon we face regarding taxes is that everyone wants to pay as little as possible however no one is willing to give up the services that those taxes go to pay for them with few signs of any major tax cuts on the horizon in year businesses like this one going to have to continue to struggle to bring home the bacon but it comes to saving fifty development peter all of a r.t.

. united nations human rights chief says the french military intervention in mali has made the situation in the country worse with fears that the west african nation will fall into a diamond spiral of violence and there are concerns about ethnic reprisal killings in mali and forces accused of murdering suspected militants with gonzalo one who's been traveling around the country throughout the conflict reports now for r.t. to back him money. the united nations already describes the situation in mali as a disaster the u.n. human rights commission says the country's caught in a spiral of violence fraught with grievous consequences the situation has been made worse in the wake of ferocious fighting in and around the city of northern mali following four days of fierce resistance from insurgents complete with suicide attacks the french military has been forced to conclude that some of the locals made an extremist that however some of the key areas in this conflict are still off

limits to international journalists the french army denying us passage saying it was for our own security the u.n. high commissioner for human rights not the palais made it plain in a recent statement that the situation in mali is only deteriorated following the foreign military intervention you know that the insurgency in mali is aggravated by ethnic clashes. camera crew witnessed instances of vegs accuses and brutality perpetrated by the mali an army and survive. the military are not the only ones and gauged in hunting down people of arable quarry origin are believed to be part of the insurgency and even the locals are going after them as well and for some time it has been difficult to find people from either of those ethnic groups anywhere in mali and this brings us back to the fact that more than three hundred thirty thousand people have been forced to flee from their homes because of the crisis the last straw for all those refugees and indeed for all of mali. there's been

a statement by al qaeda coming out of the arabian peninsula which calls upon every muslim to join the whole war against france a war that is being fought in mali against the will of its people by gonzalo one shotted mali r t one. media reports say qatar has handed the syrian embassy to the opposition the building has been closed for about a year after gulf nations cease to recognize the ruling regime one of syria's opposition leaders claims he's been appointed ambassador to qatar soon political activist yes i don't know explained qatar is trying to beef up the failing syrian national coalition it's not an addition to the political weight of the syrian national coalition in my view this is a this is primarily a prime primarily to reinject some life in the syrian national coalition especially after the several blows that it received since. it was formed we know that

they want to. overthrow the regime they couldn't so far they wanted to achieve some liberated lands and more than in northern syria and they didn't so far and they also wanted to form a transitional government on syrian soil and they're meeting in the us it's the moon recently failed in doing so so i think i think this movement by by qatar especially the last couple of considers itself the main backer of this iranian national mission because it was its own project so it's. mosque and we inject some life into it after after the deficiencies that. just education is making a major comeback in tunisia two years after the regime that banned the teaching of islam was toppled the current government has no control over private schools springing up across the country it concerns the schools are being used to spread

extreme islam or teaser in english curve visited an education center where the koran is the main subject. tunisia's learned some tough lessons in the wake of its revolt but now the report card for what's going on in its schools is facing examination in the school in one of the poorest districts of the tunisian capital children come to learn about the qur'an and the way of life of true muslims religious education was banned under the old regime but it's making a comeback in a big way the rise of islam islam has led to an increase in the number of religious schools springing up across the country these schools are private operating outside of the control of state officials who have no say over what's being taught in these schools and some worry that this may lead to a rise in the number of young extremists even many religious experts agree filling your minds with religious doctrine is may not be the best way to bring up children . what that does and i read in one of the papers sent by

a three year old girl to her mother with a message my beloved mom teach me about the afterlife the same way you teach about this life is this a way to teach three year old children we can see it clearly attempts to brainwash these children dr mooney carried out an extensive research of religious schools and to nice to find out whether critics were right to say that they were damaging to the country's post revolutionary development she found most schools were primarily focused on teaching strict islamic values without worrying about the effect these methods may have on youngsters. i have noticed that all female teachers at these schools where any cub while teaching you can't see her face this is in contradiction with what's known in psychology as communication how can she communicate with the kids of her face is covered in motions and movement of vital to kids and social interaction such things do not contradict our values and morals . but parents who send their children to study at these schools believe they are on

the right track. educating their children with muslim values is the way to ensure that they will lead a proper life from childhood study in the koran improves memory increases thinking abilities and says the right course for the rest of their lives. at the moment not even the ministry of education is able to say exactly how many religious schools there are in tunisia after the revolution they sprung up over the country many operating without license from the state the government has acknowledged the problem but has its hands full trying to keep the economy together. is on the backburner absence of control that especially worries tunisians on top of the concerns about extremist salafist groups gaining ground. these groups don't believe in democracy republic and freedom they consider them to be against their religion they want to impose their way of life onto new zealand by force as if they know

better than other people. after the arab spring revolt tunisians were eager to embrace what they hoped would be a new way of life but with radical islam permeating more and more spheres of everyday life these children's future i mean not be exactly what many parents had hoped for in their quest for freedom and democracy in tunisia. our team. well coming up after the break oh it's he takes a closer look at the gun control debate united states. helicopters flying through the air day and night rounds of assault rifle ammo popping as the choppers buzz over the land now this unique form of hell of terror

is no longer restricted to those in vietnam in the middle east now houston miami residents of the good old usa can get in on the fun houston residents in terror called nine one one and scrambled for cover and even to schools put on lockdown as a military helicopters participate in a multi-agency training for oil in miami at night in the middle of downtown onlookers caught video on their telephones of blackhawk helicopters pumping loud blank on to the people below and maybe even as i speak a flexibly scheduled military drill could be happening in jesper county south carolina you know when i was a kid they tell us about how that year old soviet union would parade their tanks around how there were soldiers all over their oppressed country even in one thousand nine hundred four or will meet in a point to describe our military helicopters would eternally be overhead and a dystopian nightmare world now we're living the nightmare the united states is a huge country there's plenty of room on remote army bases to do your training also

last time i checked afghanistan evil which is don't look like downtown miami just who are you training the kill anyways knock off the terror trainings but that's just my opinion. i am.